Rio Grande Herald (Rio Grande City, Tex.), Vol. 31, No. 3, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 18, 1973 Page: 1 of 20
twenty pages : ill. ; page 16 x 11 in. Digitized from 35 mm. microfilm.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
J
I
i
6.
i -
f
RIO GRANDE
Serving over 5000
readers for over 50 years TPA Award Winning Newspaper
Ten Cents
Vol. XXXI
No. 3 Thursday, January 18, 1972
Rio Grande City, Texas
Federal grand jury will
take action before Feb. 1
A federal grand jury prob-
ably will take some final ac-
tion by Feb. 1 in Its investigation
of suspected income tax irreg-
ularities in Duval County a
courthouse sourced said Tues-
day.
The source set that date be-
cause it is then the statute of
limitations on income tax in-
fractions - six years - would
eliminate consideration of ir-
regularities in 19GG, apparently
one of the key years judging
from records subpoenaed by the
jury.
The jury, which interviewed
five witnesses Monday, will not
reconvene today, according to
Assistant U.S. Attorney John
Clark. He would not name a
date for the next session of the
jury.
Monday's grand jury meeting
left reporters as uninformed as
the other sessions in the nine
month long investigation. Offic-
ials only announced who were
questioned, and made no com-
ments or inferences about the
substance of the testimony.
Federal law requires witness-
es, jury members and attorneys
to remain silent about a grand
jury investigation until indict-
ments are returned.
Ramiro Carrillo, a Duval
County commissioner, appear-
ed during the morning session
Monday. He is a brother in a
Editorial...Second of a series...
Financial disaster
narrowly averted...
Through much perseverence and perhaps a lot of prayer,
County Judge Dr. Mario Ramirez, managed to put a rein on
a runaway horse. He managed to set up a system of book-
keeping that was sadly lacking. He managed to hire a com-
petent certified public accountant to point the way to finan-
cial solvency. He followed a strict budget in order for the
county to get lack in the black. He could have done more
but for the opposition of a hostile commissioners court.
But now we have a new commissioners court—or at
least half of it is new. Weexpect great things from the two
new commissioners--and so far Commissioner Hector 1 o-
zano of Grulla has not disappointed us. We still expect good
things from Commissioner Roque Guerra of Rio Grande
City. As for the other two commissioners, we can only
judge them from their past actions.
The commissioners court is the body and soul of county
government. It is a shame that the Starr County elector-
ate has not used good judgement in electing many of its
county commissioners in the past few years. The people
you elected in the past almost ruined your county. They
threw away your money like there was no tomorrow. Red
ink became the most popular color in the courthouse. Need-
less jobs were created for people who could deliver votes.
County road equipment was used mostly on private prop-
erty for the party faithful. The county budget became a
farce. The tax revenues kept running out earlier and ear-
lier as the years went by until we almost didn't have enough
money to operate for not one, but two years. Many reputa-
ble firms were reluctant to deal with Starr County because
it had got to the point that the county could not pay its bills.
Fortunately for Starr County, I>r. Ramirez was named
county judge at this time.
What do people expect from its county commissioners''
First,we think,people expect honesty.Wethinkihat a com-
missioner should act with a clear conscience and put the
interest of all of Starr County ahead of any other interest.
Above all, lie should not play politics with his position. He
should not follow a party line nor be influenced by greedy
arid ambitious politicians. A county commissioner should
be the head man in his precinct. He should have the right
to hire and fire. He should not have to accept personnel
hired by his predecessor in office. He should hire men in
whom he has confidence and trust. A county commissioner
should lie in complete control of all road equipment as-
sipned to his precinct and should lie held responsible fur
it as well as its use.
Our county commissioners should try to get Starr Coun-
ty quicker out of its financial hole by eliminating needless
positions. For example, we don't need the office of county
school superintendent, nor right-of-way officer, nor
county road superintendent. These are superflous offices
that should be immediately eliminated.
We think that more competent people should be named
to important positions. For example, let's name profes-
sional bookkeepers to the county auditor's office. l et's
name a person with training as probation officer.
Let's analyze the whole spectrum of county government
and find out where it can be improved, l et's weed out all
the parasites and misfits and name people on merit alone
and not on political flavoring.
Government is only a mirror of the people . . . you see
what you are. You get what you vote for. What you see is
what you get! And we can only work with wtiat we've got.
politically powerful South Texas
family. His brothers include
former state Rep. Oscar Carri-
llo and District Judge O.P. Car-
rillo, and his father is D. Car-
rillo Chapa, president of the
Duval County Reclamation Dis-
trict and a former Benavides
School Board member.
Chapa is one of thee persons
to whom the government has
granted immunity in exchange
for testimony. The other two
were Laura Taylor of Dallas,
sister of San Diego School Su-
perintendnet Bryan Taylor, and
Carl 11. Stautz of Austin.
The investigation began May
9, 1972, with a three-hour ap-
pearance by Stautz. Throughout
the next nine months. The In-
ternal Revenue Service has
audited stacks of records and
questioned dozens of persons.
Periodically the grand jury has
met to hear evidence.
There have been several
other grand jury investigations
in the last 40 years focusing on
Duval County, and one resulted
in the conviction of George B.
Parr, longtime political figure
in the county, for evading his
1928 income tax.
Also appearing Monday were
Leo Sepulveda, secretary of the
reclamation district. He car-
ried two typewriters into the
grand jury room. The jury pre-
viously had looked over sev-
eral other typewriters, all be-
longing to employes of the First
State Bank of San Diego, appa-
rently in an effort to find out
where certain records were
typed.
Other witnesses Monday in-
cluded Carl Williams, cashier
at the First State Bank of San
Diego, Mrs. Debora Hoelscher,
daughter of Bryan Taylor, and
DeAnn Powell, daughter of
Freer School Superintendent
Eunice E. Powell.
gpH
m
QB BANQUET SPEAKER — Aaron E. Autry, vice president of
tured speaker at the annual Rio Grande City High School football
banquet on tonight January 18, 1973 at 7:30 p.m. in the high
school cafeteria. Autry's speech, titled "Opportunity in Sports",
discusses the opportunities that are available in the nation for
young people in sports and other fields. Born in Kerens, Texas, Au-
try was graduated from Stephenville High School and Texas A&M
University. He came to work for CPLinl95G as an agricultural en-
gineer and steadily advanced to vice president in 1969. He was
elected to the utility company's Board of Directors in 1970, and is
now in charge of Public Affairs, Employee Relations, Treasury and
Data Processing Departments. He is a member of Tau Beta Pi, an
honorary engineering society and Corpus Christi Friends of The
Public l ibrary Association. A member of St. Bartholomew's Ep-
iscopal Church, Autry and his wife have three children . . . Martha,
23; Parker, 19; and John, 1G.
Back the Rattlers...
attend tonights banquet...
fa
r
-
HEAD COOKIE DRIVE — Mrs. Cesar G. Leal, left service team director for Rio Gran'/
City has announced the appointment of Mrs. Allx'rto Gallardo Jr., rigtit, as Community
Girl Scout Cookie Chairman for Rio Grande City for 1973. The responsibility of receiv-
ing, disbursing, and recording the sales of 1,200 Wjxes of Girl Scout Cookies was accept-
ed by Mrs. Gallardo as an adult's contribution to better scouting. Cookie sales dates are
February 2 through February 17. Girl Scouts will be making door to door sales as well
as selling from booths located at the local businesses. Proceeds from the annual cookie
sale provide the Tip of Texas Girl Scout Council with funds to help provide a year-arouno
outdoor program for girls from Port Isabel to Roma and from Raymondville to the horde-,
\
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Trejo, Raul. Rio Grande Herald (Rio Grande City, Tex.), Vol. 31, No. 3, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 18, 1973, newspaper, January 18, 1973; Rio Grande City, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth194389/m1/1/: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rio Grande City Public Library.